Systems and Methods for Providing Tourist Information Based on a Location

• US 20090036145A1
• Filed: 07/31/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alan J. Rosenblum
• Inventors: Rosenblum, Alan J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,005,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

A system for identifying and retrieving information about a point of interest comprises a portable device capable of determining the location of the point of interest and including a communication mechanism to communicate the same with a processing center. The system specifically identifies the point of interest, obtains relevant sources of information about the point of interest and reconciles the information. Furthermore, the system either transmits textual, graphical, audio or video to the portable device or facilitates communication between a user of the portable device and a call center or guide.

Claims

1. A system for communicating tourist information, comprising:

a portable device having a position identification mechanism and a communications mechanism, wherein the portable device communicates its position information and a distance between the portable device and a point of interest to a processing center; and

the processing center, wherein the processing center identifies a point of interest, obtains information about the point of interest and communicates the identity of the point of interest and the obtained information to a user.

2. A system as in claim 1 wherein the position identification mechanism comprises a global positioning system and a distance measurer and further wherein the position identification mechanism determines the position of the point of interest and the processing center identifies the point of interest based on the determined position of the point of interest.

3. A system as in claim 2 wherein the communications mechanism comprises a wireless communication device.

4. A system as in claim 3 wherein the portable device further comprises a display.

5. A system as in claim 1 wherein the portable device further comprises an image capture device and further wherein the processing center identifies the point of interest based on information obtained by the image capture mechanism.

6. A system as in claim 1 wherein the processing center further performs a query to identify at least a second point of interest similar to the point of interest.

7. A system as in claim 1 wherein the processing center further performs a query to identify at least a second point of interest based on information about the point of interest.

8. A system as in claim 7 wherein the processing center further obtains information about the second point of interest, calculates a travel route between the point of interest and the second point of interest and communicates the obtained information, information about the second point of interest and travel route to the user.

9. A system as in claim 1 wherein information about the point of interest includes a description of the point of interest, the function of the point of interest and information about accessing the point of interest.

10. A system for communicating tourist information, comprising:

a portable device having a position identification mechanism, a communications mechanism and a display, wherein the position identification mechanism comprises a distance measurer to measure a distance between a first point of interest and the portable device and calculates a position of the first point of interest based on the measured distance and a general direction of the point of interest relative to the portable device and further wherein the portable device identifies the first point of interest based on the calculated position of the first point of interest; and

a processing center, wherein the processing center queries at least one information source about the first point of interest, queries the information source to identify a second point of interest similar to the first point of interest, obtains directions from the first point of interest to the second point of interest and communicates the results of the queries and the directions to a user.

11. A system as in claim 11 wherein the portable device further includes a storage device comprising an identity of at least a point of interest.

12. A system of claim 11 wherein the processing further queries a call center and facilitates communication between the call center and the user.

13. A system as in claim 11 wherein the processing center further identifies advertising information and communicates the advertising information to the user.

14. A method for communicating tourist information, comprising:

measuring a distance between a portable device and a point of interest;

calculating a position of the point of interest based on the distance and a direction of the point of interest relative to the portable device;

identifying the point of interest based on the calculated position;

identifying information about the point of interest; and

transmitting the identified information about the point of interest to a user.

15. A method as in claim 14 further comprising capturing visual characteristics of the point of interest and identifying the point of interest based on the calculated position and the visual characteristics.

16. A method as in claim 14 further comprising querying a call center and facilitating communication between the call center and the user.

17. A method as in claim 14 further comprising generating a personalized tour plan including the point of interest and transmitting the tour plan to the user.

18. A method as in claim 17 further comprising identifying advertisement information based on the point of interest and incorporating the advertisement information in the personalized tour plan.

19. A method as in claim 17 further comprising identifying at least a second point of interest based on information about the identified point of interest, obtaining information about the second point of interest and transmitting information the second point of interest.

20. A method as in claim 14 further comprising gathering information about the user, identifying user preferences, querying multiple information sources to identify points of interest related to user preferences and generating tour plans related to the user preferences.